Affordable Housing: The Push for Equality

A house under construction; President Biden’s plan seeks to create 500,000 new affordable homes.

A house under construction; President Biden’s plan seeks to create 500,000 new affordable homes.

By Brendan Kehoe ‘24

Amid an increased mainstream focus on racial equality following the killing of George Floyd and a devastating pandemic that has made housing insecurity a pressing issue, the Connecticut state legislature is attempting to help increase access to affordable housing across the state.

This effort is in many ways a result of the work of Sara Bronin, who serves as a law professor at the University of Connecticut Law School and chairs the City of Hartford’s Planning & Zoning Commission. In mid-2020, she founded the organization Desegregate Connecticut, which is working with citizens and nonprofit groups in order to “[create] abundant, diverse housing in service of equity, inclusive prosperity, and a cleaner environment.” The organization’s current focus is on fighting to make affordable housing more prominent and accessible for Connecticut residents. Specifically, with the help of Connecticut’s legislature, the group hopes to remove local bureaucratic hurdles that prevent the growth of affordable and multi-family housing and as well as require towns to have available a minimum amount of affordable housing. Activists such as Bronin believe these measures would help to integrate Connecticut, a state that has historically been largely segregated, with people of color predominantly living in cities and white people predominantly living in suburbs.

Currently, the organization’s efforts have had promising success. On Wednesday, March 31st, the legislature’s Planning and Development Committee advanced several measures to be voted on by the state’s Senate and House of Representatives. Currently, homeowners need approval from local zoning boards to have “accessory units,” which are living spaces separate from the main residence such as basements, bedrooms above garages separate from the house, and even sections of the main house itself. This measure would reduce this hurdle by allowing homeowners to create these spaces without approval. Another measure requires each town to have a minimum number of affordable homes available to residents, with this number for each town based on the state’s analysis and compliance with federal housing laws. It  penalizes towns that don’t comply with this measure but lets the towns make their own decisions on how to comply. Finally, a third measure passed places requirements on the operations of local planning or zoning boards. It establishes the need for mandatory training for board members and bans towns from using the concept of an area’s “character” to shape zoning policies, considering this to be too vague. Instead, rules must be justified by more concrete standards, such as an area’s building style or “the physical characteristics of a building lot.”

While these and other fair and affordable housing measures were passed by the committee, not all of Desegregate Connecticut’s measures were successful. One measure, a part of Senate Bill 1024, sought to allow multi-family housing units near downtown areas and important transportation stations (such as train stations) without needing permission from local boards or public hearings. This measure failed to pass through the committee.

Although the passing of several affordable and fair housing measures through the Planning and Development Committee is a good sign for activists, these bills still must be voted on by both houses of the legislature and signed by Governor Ned Lamont before becoming law. The presence of significant opposition from some residents suggests this will not be an easy process. For example, the Old Lyme Connecticut Planning Commission released a statement against these measures, noting that the bills are a “one-size-fits all scenario,” placing the same requirements on geographically diverse towns, including suburban, rural, and shoreline communities. They feel it will harm the ability of towns to maintain their local “character.” This opposition from the Old Lyme government highlights the strong opposition this bill faces. In written testimony prior to a March 15 hearing about the measures, CT resident Lois Schneider echoed this view, also suggesting that the bill should focus on the area with inadequate housing instead of the entire state. Darien resident John Pasvankias cited his belief that the measures would not actually address the issues surrounding affordable housing in his opposition. 

On the other hand, supportive written testimony shows that these measures have strong support across the state. Hartford resident Emily Napear cited Connecticut’s continuing segregation issues and the need for increased diversity across the state as a reason to facilitate the growth of affordable housing, beliefs echoed by Norwalk resident John Levin. New Haven resident Theo Haaks builds on the importance of the bill to racial equality to also argue that the bill would help make public transportation more acceptable, help preserve woods and farmland, and help facilitate economic growth in the state. The varying opinions on these measures make it clear that affordable housing will be a contentious but relevant issue in Connecticut going forward.

This expanded focus on affordable housing isn’t exclusive to Connecticut. Similar measures are being taken up across the country. In California, proposals would allocate more funding to build affordable housing and make it easier for new housing projects to get through environmental review. In addition, one bill, SB9, would permit landowners to build two-family homes on spaces designed for single-family homes without needing the permission of any local boards. Like in Connecticut, however, this bill faces significant opposition. In Oregon, a bill that would make it easier to turn hotel and motel buildings into spaces for affordable homes, largely in response to the state’s recent wildfire crises that have left many unhoused.

Not only are affordable housing measures being proposed at the state level, but there is traction at the federal level as well. Recently confirmed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge is an advocate for affordable housing, having previously created a resolution as a Congresswoman to declare “accessible, affordable housing” as a human right. On March 31, 2021, President Joe Biden released his American Jobs plan, which includes a focus on “building, rehabilitating, and retrofitting affordable, accessible, energy efficient and resilient housing.” It allocates $213 billion for this purpose, and also invests $20 billion into the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, which will use tax credits to get 500,000 new homes built by 2026. And, similarly to Connecticut’s approach, it focuses on ways to end overly restrictive zoning rules, which Biden sees as increasing building costs and limiting neighborhood diversity.

While President Biden’s plan would have to be passed by both houses of the United States Congress and signed before becoming law, he and Secretary Fudge’s focus on affordable housing shows that this is an issue relevant to the United States beyond Connecticut. Its relevance will only continue to grow as such measures continue to advance within state legislatures and the United States Congress.

Brendan Kehoe